In relation to the draft royal decree for the approval of the Spanish Seismic Construction Standard, published on the EU-TRIS website, we would like to make the following considerations:
A) Technical questioning of the regulation in the professional sector. Since the public consultation process for the NCSR regulation began in March 2022, this norm has been highly questioned in the professional and academic world. The norm received much criticism during the public information period in Spain, throughout the year 2022, without these pertinent allegations having been taken into account in the final draft. These allegations have not been included in the documentation uploaded to TRIS "Treatment of Comments and Observations Received", where they are just mentioned.
Due to the decision of the Ministry of Transport to continue with the processing of the royal decree, and considering the alarm that this decision has generated, during the last weeks there has been a professional mobilization of the sector that has been supported by practically all the professional associations related to structural engineering, dozens of structural university professors, consulting and construction firms and hundreds of experts (attached Manifesto for a coherent and safe seismic regulation is attached with the endorsements).
The main criticism made has been the lack of technical coherence of the regulatory text, leading to important risks for the safety of buildings and infrastructures and, therefore, for the safety of people. This lack of coherence (internal to the standard itself and with the rest of the complementary Spanish regulations) is mainly due to the fact of been drafted by using an altered transcription of Eurocode 8, in which the system of cross references between the different Eurocodes has been eliminated and the replaced by other unjustified references.
B) Impediment to the free circulation of products and services. Unlike the Spanish structural regulations of the last decade, this royal decree does not recognize the possibility of using the Eurocodes as an alternative to the text of the norm.
We consider this an unacceptable setback, which undoubtedly represents a barrier to the free movement of professionals, services and products within the EU.
If this Seismic Resistant Construction Standard came into force, a structural project prepared with Eurocodes will be rejected in Spain for not complying with this regulation.
In the same way, a precast concrete element fabricated in a European country and with CE marking (harmonized standards EN 13225 and EN 15050) will be rejected in Spain in a moderate to high seismic area (an broad area of the country).
This situation goes against the EU legislation.
C) Error in the publication of the regulation on the EU-TRIS website. As indicated in the Impact Report uploaded by the Spanish authorities to the EU-TRIS, the Seismic Resistant Construction regulation is included in an Annex of the royal decree and consists of 6 parts (called annexes). These parts will be mandatory in Spain if the royal decree is approved, and they really constitute the text of the regulation. However, the 6 parts of the norm have not been published on the EU-TRIS website, which makes impossible to consult the text of the regulation.
As it is not possible to access the content of the regulation that is submitted for consultation, the right of EU citizens protected by the directive 2015/1535 (art. 5) would be violated.
Request
In regard of the situation above explained, we claim to the European authorities to:
1. Extend theEnd of Standstill, so that the full text is available during the 3 mandatory months.
2. do not accept the draft of the Spanish Seismic Resistant Construction regulation until:
- A strong consensus has been reached in Spain, due to the important economic and social implications of a regulation of this kind
- The regulation recognizes Eurocode 8 as a valid earthquake-resistant construction standard for its application in Spain
Asociación Caminos
The Association of Civil Engineers was created in 1903 to represent its members in all kinds of actions and foster their union and spirit of collaboration.
The AICCPIC is private in nature and has a national dimension. The Association of Civil Engineers promoted the creation of the Institute of Engineering (1905), as well as the College of Civil Engineers, Canals and Ports (1953).
